


Blackout

by Vinushuka



Series: After the Ghoul [5]
Category: Dir en grey
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:16:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23664499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinushuka/pseuds/Vinushuka
Summary: Toshiya has his second session of modelling training with Eva in a fashion center where the fashion show will be held later on. Despite of exercising at home, Toshiya ends up with a complete blackout when he's supposed to perform on the catwalk. On top of that his fans manage to sneek into the fashion center causing unwelcome disturbance. In the evening Toshiya gets a surprise visitor, when Kyo turns up at his doorstep to get some help.
Relationships: Die/Toshiya (Dir en grey), Kyo/Toshiya (Dir en grey)
Series: After the Ghoul [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1565338
Kudos: 1





	Blackout

The fashion center situated along Omotesando looked like a very ordinary place and yet, looking at the entrance from across the street made Toshiya’s palms sweat as if he was entering into a lion’s den or something worse. The sudden panic almost made him turn and run but Eva’s familiar voice stopped him.

“Good morning Toshiya. How has your week started? I trust you have done your walking exercises”, Eva greeted Toshiya as she stopped beside him and waited for the traffic lights to turn green.

“Hi Eva! The week has been okay so far and I have done some exercises, but practicing is frustrating when there’s not enough space and no-one to ask advice from”, Toshiya blurted out the truth knowing that Eva wouldn’t mind.

“I can see that. Luckily, we have today excellent facilities for rehearsing your modelling skills. I have reserved the whole day for our exercises so I’m certain that we’ll make great progress by the evening.

“I sure hope so. I almost ran away when I saw this place”, Toshiya confessed.

“Having second thought is normal at the beginning of one’s modelling career, but you’ll get over it. Let’s go in and get to work.”, Eva encouraged Toshiya and pushed him playfully at the back to make him walk.

When Toshiya saw the auditorium with a runway in the middle for the first time, it launched another wave of panic in Toshiya’s mind. Despite of his need to flee he followed Eva, who led them directly to the backstage and the dressing rooms there.

“I brought with me some outfits that have been adjusted according to your measurements. With these we can rehearse fluent change of clothes, which is essential during a fashion show. I must apologize beforehand that I will have to be there to help you when you change”, Eva told Toshiya when they had entered one of the dressing rooms.

“That’s alright. I leave myself into your capable hands”, Toshiya grinned relaxing a little. Being half naked in front of a woman wasn’t a big problem compared to modelling in front of a live audience.

“Excellent! Let’s start with the first outfit. After changing we can make some walking exercises on the catwalk. Just a word of warning: Walking is going to feel different because the runway is elevated.”

The pearl-grey suit Toshiya tried on first fitted fine at the shoulders, but Eva wasn’t satisfied with the backside of the jacket. According to her it was baggy and needed some adjustment. Eva used pins to mark the changes she wanted to make later.

When Toshiya was supposed to start the walking exercise, his head went totally blank as if he had forgotten everything Eva had taught him on previous Friday. As soon as Eva realized what was wrong, she repeated her instructions and showed Toshiya once more how to walk. Slowly but surely things started to come back to Toshiya and his self-confidence returned thanks to Eva’s encouragement. Poses and turns were for some reason a bit easier for Toshiya. After getting over the initial paralysis, he remembered at least some parts of Eva’s teachings and could perform accordingly.

The second change of clothes turned out to be a total farse. When Toshiya was removing his jacket, one of the pins Eva had used stung Toshiya’s back quite badly causing a bleeding scratch that ruined his dress shirt. It took a while to find a band-aid to stop the bleeding after which they could continue their exercise with a new dress shirt. As if that wasn’t enough, one of the shirt buttons came loose and rolled under a closet. Eva started to giggle first, and Toshiya joined her until they were roaring with laughter. After their hysterical fit of laughter had passed, they just ignored the missing button and continued the rehearsal as planned.

By midday Toshiya was exhausted both mentally and physically, but he didn’t want to complain.

“Maybe it’s time for a lunch break”, Eva proposed, when she noticed Toshiya’s fatigue. “I know a nice ramen restaurant close by.”

“I could do with some ramen. I didn’t eat much during my breakfast”, Toshiya admitted relieved that he didn’t have to ask for a break himself. 

When Toshiya had changed back to his own clothes, they headed towards the ramen restaurant located at about five minutes’ walk down the street. The weather outside was warm and sunny for a change, after couple of rainy days. Toshiya took a deep breath of fresh air and enjoyed the sun on his face.

“A perfect day for a long jog”, he mused and gave a smile at Eva. “Thanks for being so patient with me. I didn’t expect having a complete blackout, but I did. I’m sorry!”

“You did fine, considering that this was your second rehearsal”, Eva assured Toshiya and touched the sleeve of his jacket lightly.

Eva and Toshiya enjoyed their ramen portions in silence. Eva didn’t seem to mind long silences and neither did Toshiya. In the absence of discussion Toshiya paid attention to how skillfully Eva used her chopsticks and enjoyed her ramen to the last drop. It was Toshiya who first broke the silence with a question.

“Do you have any idea what Mari is planning to do with her cat when you return to Sweden?”

“Ah, do you mean Kuro? In fact, he’s not Mari’s cat. I think he belongs to an old lady down the road. Kuro has just adopted Mari and you as his stepparents. He will stay here and entertain you and other neighbors also in the future.”

“That’s great! I’ve got used to having him around, but I can’t have a cat of my own because I’m constantly travelling. Die likes him too and was worried about his destiny”, Toshiya explained blushing slightly when he mentioned Die.

“Is Die still busy with the planning of his birthday party?” Eva changed the subject to keep Toshiya talking.

“I think so. I haven’t heard much of him lately, but the last time we talked he was looking for suitable facilities for the party. We can probably expect the invitations quite soon.”

“Looking forward to it”, Eva mused. “I haven’t done much partying lately. The fashion show and other arrangements have kept me very busy.”

When Eva and Toshiya returned to the fashion center, they used the backdoor to get directly to the backstage. Toshiya’s next outfit was informal summer wear consisting of a loose print-shirt made of lightweight fabric and capri-length trousers. This time they would practice a double pose, where Toshiya and Eva would meet at the middle of the runway, Toshiya on his way to the backstage and Eva on her way to the end of the catwalk. Consequently, Toshiya headed first to the runway. Walking went fine this time but at the end of the runway he suddenly heard someone calling his name followed by some applause. Toshiya stopped dead trying to see behind the lights blinding him and leaving the auditorium in darkness.

After Toshiya’s eyes had adjusted enough, he saw a group of girls sitting on the auditorium seats. They jumped up and started to ask for autographs, when they realized that Toshiya had seen them. After a short hesitation Toshiya reached out his hand and started giving his autographs to notebooks or whatever the girls had with them. One of them gave him a bear plushie in return.

“Okay, the fan meeting is over! I will have to ask you ladies to leave now. This is a private facility, so you shouldn’t be here”, Eva called out in a sharp tone.

“Err, maybe it’s better for you to leave now. We have a lot of exercising to do”, Toshiya said and flashed his best smile at the fans.

“By the way, how did you get in here?” Eva asked one of the girls.

“A guard let us in, when we told him that we supposed to rehearse modelling here.”, the girl replied looking a bit smug.

“How did you know that Toshiya was here?” Eva continued her questioning.

“We have our information sources”, the girl admitted but wouldn’t say more.

The incident had once more ruined Toshiya’s concentration, so they had to start their exercise from the beginning. This time everything went smoothly, even the double pose that they had missed on the first round.

The change from casual summer wear to a festive black suit with a mandarin collar went fluently although Eva had some problems with buttoning the suit jacket. The purple silk shirt under the jacket made Toshiya look gorgeous and Eva couldn’t help noticing it.

“You really are the most beautiful man on the planet in that suit”, she huffed when Toshiya came back from the catwalk after completing successfully all the poses and turns. “And I think you’re ready for the rehearsals next week.”

“Really? Thanks to you I’m getting the hang of it,” Toshiya beamed at Eva and suddenly gave her a hug. 

After finishing their exercises Eva went through in detail the schedule and contents of next week’s team rehearsal so that Toshiya knew exactly what to expect. The situation would be exciting enough for him without any surprises. When everything was clear to Toshiya, they decided to call it a day. For a second Toshiya thought that it would be nice to ask Eva out sometimes, but his courage failed, and they departed after a friendly hug.

\-----

When Toshiya was back at home, he realized that the obscure anxiety that had bothered him the last couple of days had vanished and he now felt relieved and lighthearted. The idea of a long jog started to feel good again and he decided to do just that. He changed to sportswear, put on wireless headphones and headed out. On his way back home, he popped into a grocery store to pick up some dinner ingredients.

Toshiya had just taken a shower and was preparing his evening meal, when Die called.

“Hi man! How was your rehearsal today?” Die asked sounding very energetic.

“I had a complete blackout, when I was supposed to walk and on top of that, our fans tried to invade the fashion house.”

“Really? I didn’t know that you were THAT popular among our fans”, Die joked. “Blackout is a normal thing. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.” 

“Yeah, I know it’s normal but it’s also very disturbing. Eva was very patient with me, and I feel much more confident now. I will probably survive the rehearsals next week and the show after that.”

“I’m sure you will, just keep up the good work! By the way, would you like to comment on my birthday plans before I send out the invitations?”

“Yeah, sure. Do we meet here or at your place?”

“I can come and visit your gym. I could use some exercise after spending so much time with my smoking friends. My lungs feel somewhat sooty. Would tomorrow be okay?”

“Tomorrow’s fine. Meanwhile take a walk or a run outside. It helps,” Toshiya proposed feeling a surge of worry for his friend. Die had a large contact network and it was all too easy to catch a flu or even something worse while mingling with people.

“Will do, see you tomorrow!”

Toshiya had just finished his dinner and was clearing the table, when his doorbell rang. He hurried to open the door slightly annoyed; he wasn’t expecting any visitors. To his astonishment he found Kyo at his doorstep.

“Sorry to disturb you like this, but I could use a friend right now and you’re the only one I can trust in this matter,” Kyo muttered looking distressed.

“You’re not disturbing… Please come in”, Toshiya said and ushered Kyo into his living room after hanging his coat and providing slippers for him. “Can I get you anything, tea, coffee, beer, wine?”

“A cup of tea would be nice. It was a bit chilly outside”, Kyo called after Toshiya, who was now at the kitchen checking the contents of his fridge.

“Would you like a sandwich with it?” he heard Toshiya ask.

“No thanks, just tea please.”

When Toshiya had put the teakettle on, he returned to the living room and sat down on the sofa beside Kyo. “Okay, why don’t you tell me what your problem is?”

“It’s a bit complicated, but you know all the persons involved so I think you can keep up”, Kyo said staring at his hands.

“And the persons involved are?”

“Uta and Ryota, his brother… and me of course.”


End file.
